Commitments and Contingencies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2020

Commitments and Contingencies Disclosure [Abstract]

Reliance Trust Claims

Reliance Trust Company ("Reliance"), the Company’s subsidiary, is named as a defendant in a class action arising out of its provision of services as the discretionary trustee for a 401(k) Plan (the "Plan") for one of its customers. On behalf of the Plan participants, plaintiffs in the action, which was filed in 2015, seek damages and attorneys’ fees, as well as equitable relief, against Reliance and the Plan’s sponsor and record-keeper for alleged breaches of fiduciary duty under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974. Reliance is vigorously defending the action and believes it has meritorious defenses. Reliance contends that no breaches of fiduciary duty or prohibited transactions occurred and that Plan participants suffered no damages. A non-jury trial of the case was conducted in March 2020. At trial, Plaintiffs sought damages of approximately $127 million against all defendants. A decision in the case is expected in the second half of 2020. While we are unable at this time to estimate more precisely the potential loss or range of loss because of unresolved questions of fact and law, we believe that the ultimate resolution of the matter will not have a material impact on our financial condition. Because we do not believe a liability for this action is probable, we have not recorded a liability for it.

Brazilian Tax Authorities Claims

In 2004, Proservvi Empreendimentos e Servicos, Ltda., the predecessor to Fidelity National Servicos de Tratamento de Documentos e Informatica Ltda. ("Servicos"), a subsidiary of Fidelity National Participacoes Ltda., our former item processing and remittance services operation in Brazil, acquired certain assets and employees and leased certain facilities from the Transpev Group ("Transpev") in Brazil. Transpev’s remaining assets were later acquired by Prosegur, an unrelated third party. When Transpev discontinued its operations after the asset sale to Prosegur, it had unpaid federal taxes and social contributions owing to the Brazilian tax authorities. The Brazilian tax authorities brought a claim against Transpev and beginning in 2012 brought claims against Prosegur and Servicos on the grounds that Prosegur and Servicos were successors in interest to Transpev. To date, the Brazilian tax authorities filed 13 claims against Servicos asserting potential tax liabilities of approximately $14 million. There are potentially 25 additional claims against Transpev/Prosegur for which Servicos is named

as a co-defendant or may be named, but for which Servicos has not yet been served. These additional claims amount to approximately $50 million making the total potential exposure for all 38 claims approximately $64 million. We do not believe a liability for these 38 total claims is probable and, therefore, have not recorded a liability for any of these claims.

Acquired Contingencies - Worldpay

The Company assumed in the Worldpay acquisition a Tax Receivable Agreement ("TRA") under which the Company agreed to make payments to Fifth Third Bank ("Fifth Third") of 85% of the federal, state, local and foreign income tax benefits realized by the Company as a result of certain tax deductions. In December 2019, the Company entered into a Tax Receivable Purchase Addendum (the "Amendment") that provides written call and put options (collectively "the options") to terminate certain estimated obligations under the TRA in exchange for fixed cash payments.

The remaining TRA obligations not subject to the Amendment are based on the cash savings realized by the Company by comparing the actual income tax liability of the Company to the amount of such taxes the Company would have been required to pay had there been no deductions related to the tax attributes. Under the TRA, in certain specified circumstances, such as certain changes of control, the Company may be required to make payments in excess of such cash savings.

Obligations recorded in our consolidated financial statements pursuant to the TRA are based on estimates of future deductions and future tax rates and, in the case of the obligations subject to the Amendment, reflect management’s expectation that the options will be exercised. In January 2020, the Company exercised its first call option pursuant to the Amendment, which will result in fixed cash payments to Fifth Third of $42 million. The timing and/or amount of aggregate payments due under the TRA may vary based on a number of factors, including the exercise of options, the amount and timing of taxable income the Company generates in the future and the tax rate then applicable, the use of loss carryforwards and amortizable basis. Each reporting period, the Company evaluates the assumptions underlying the TRA obligations.

The consolidated balance sheet as of March 31, 2020, includes a total liability of $563 million relating to the TRA. The following table summarizes our estimated payment obligation timing under the TRA as of March 31, 2020 (in millions):


			Payments Due in
Type of Obligation	Total		2020 Remaining Period		1-3 Years		3-5 Years		More than 5 Years
Obligations under TRA	$	563	$	31	$	267	$	252	$	13

Chargeback Liability

Through services offered in our Merchant Solutions segment, the Company is exposed to losses from merchant-related chargebacks. A chargeback occurs when a dispute between a cardholder and a merchant, including a claim for non-delivery of the product or service by the merchant, is not resolved in favor of the merchant and the transaction is charged back to the merchant resulting in a refund of the purchase price to the cardholder. If the Company is unable to collect this chargeback amount from the merchant due to closure, bankruptcy or other reasons, the Company bears the loss for the refund paid to the cardholder. The risk of chargebacks is typically greater for those merchants that promise future delivery of goods and services rather than delivering goods or rendering services at the time of payment. As a result of the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Company believes it is reasonably possible that it has incurred or may incur significant losses related to future chargebacks. Due to the unprecedented nature of the pandemic and the numerous current and future uncertainties that may impact any potential chargeback losses, and considering that the Company has no historical experience with similar uncertainties, a reasonable estimate of the possible accrual for losses or range of losses cannot be made.

Indemnifications and Warranties

The Company generally indemnifies its clients, subject to certain limitations and exceptions, against damages and costs resulting from claims of patent, copyright, or trademark infringement associated solely with its customers’ use of the Company’s software applications or services. Historically, the Company has not made any material payments under such indemnifications but continues to monitor the conditions that are subject to the indemnifications to identify whether it is probable that a loss has occurred, in which case it would recognize any such losses when they are estimable. In addition, the Company warrants to customers that its software operates substantially in accordance with the software specifications.

Historically, no material costs have been incurred related to software warranties, and no accruals for warranty costs have been made.